Instruments of optical pulse characterization

ABSTRACT

An optical transmission system is provided by preparing a two-photon transition medium where efficiency of two-photon transition does not depend on polarization; splitting an optical pulse to be measured into a probe optical pulse and a gate optical pulse by a polarization independent beam splitter; after adding variable delay time to this gate optical pulse, entering the probe optical pulse and the gate optical pulse into a highly efficient two-photon absorption medium so that both of the pulses cross each other, and thereby generating an optical gate function; resolving a spectrum of the transmitted probe optical pulse, and detecting the spectrum by a photodetector; and measuring intensity of electric-field absorption of the probe optical pulse as a function of delay time and a frequency.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a polarization-independent opticalpulse characterization instrument which analyzes time and frequency(wavelength) properties of an optical pulse in an arbitrary polarizedstate.

As a technology for analyzing time and frequency properties of anoptical pulse by measuring a spectrogram which is a function of delaytime and a frequency (or a wavelength), a method calledfrequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) has been developed. Change withtime or change with frequency (wavelength) in intensity and phase of anoptical pulse to be measured can be obtained from a spectrogram. Thistechnique is reported in the following documents: Review of ScientificInstruments, Vol. 68, No. 9, pp. 3277-3295, 1997; Physica Status Solidi(b) Vol. 206, pp. 119-124, 1998; and IEEE Journal of QuantumElectronics, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 421-431, 1999.

As a technology for characterizing a feeble ultrashort optical pulsewith high sensitivity and high time resolution at the time of opticalfiber transmission, FROG to which two-photon absorption in asemiconductor is applied as an optical gate has been developed. Thistechnique is reported in Optics Express, Vol. 7, pp. 135-140, 2000. Withthis technique, the following method for measuring a spectrogram isdisclosed: a probe optical pulse and a gate optical pulse in a linearpolarization state, in which both of the optical pulses are orthogonalto each other, are colinearly entered in a two-photon absorption medium;and thereby a spectrogram is measured as a function of delay timebetween the gate optical pulse and the probe optical pulse, and as afunction of a frequency or a wavelength.

In a long-distance optical fiber transmission system, it is expectedthat polarization mixing and polarization mode dispersion caused bydouble refraction in an optical fiber will exert a serious influenceupon signal degradation. Therefore, characterization of the influence ofpolarization mixing and polarization mode dispersion in the opticalfiber exerted upon ultrashort optical pulse transmission isindispensable for enhancing performance of the long-distance opticalfiber transmission system which uses an ultrashort optical pulse.However, in the conventional method for characterizing an optical pulseusing FROG which applies two-photon absorption in a semiconductor as anoptical gate, an optical pulse to be measured and a gate optical pulsemust always be in a linear polarization state. Therefore, theconventional method cannot be applied to an arbitrary polarized opticalpulse. It is impossible to correctly characterize a randomly polarizedoptical pulse, and an optical pulse, a waveform of which is distorted,which are caused by polarization mixing and polarization modedispersion.

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical transmissionsystem, a signal error rate of which is low. Another object of thepresent invention is to provide an instrument of optical pulsecharacterization which is useful to provide such an optical system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first typical aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an instrument of optical pulse characterization, wherein:analysis of optical pulse properties, resulting from polarization modedispersion, becomes possible by the steps of: discriminating between anoptical pulse to be measured and an optical pulse by four-wave mixing toeliminate noise generated by interference of the optical pulse to bemeasured with the optical pulse by four-wave mixing; and whilemeasuring, with high sensitivity, a spectrogram of the optical pulse tobe measured in an arbitrary polarized state, separating the spectrograminto two polarized components which are independent of, or orthogonalto, each other.

According to a second typical aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an instrument of optical pulse characterization, wherein: saidinstrument of optical pulse characterization can select a method,measurement sensitivity of which is high, by selecting an optical pulseto be measured, intensity of which has been changed by two-photonabsorption, and a third optical pulse generated by four-wave mixing, asobjects to be measured.

An optical transmission system according to the present invention can berealized by using the above-mentioned instrument of optical pulsecharacterization.

To be more specific, according to a main mode of the present invention,a two-photon transition medium where efficiency of two-photon transitiondoes not depend on polarization is prepared; and an optical pulse to bemeasured is split into the optical pulse to be measured itself (probeoptical pulse) and a gate optical pulse by a polarization independentbeam splitter. After adding variable delay time to this gate opticalpulse, the probe optical pulse and the gate optical pulse are enteredinto a highly efficient two-photon absorption medium so that both of thepulses cross each other. Then, in a state in which a new optical pulsegenerated by four-wave mixing of the probe optical pulse and the gateoptical pulse is spatially separated from the transmitted probe opticalpulse itself so that both of the pulses are discriminated, an opticalgate function is generated, and thereby a spectrum of the transmittedprobe optical pulse, or of the optical pulse by four-wave mixing, isresolved before detecting the spectrum by a photodetector. By means ofthe optical detection, intensity of electric-field absorption of theoptical pulse to be measured is measured as a function of delay time anda frequency. Thus, characterization by measuring time and frequencyproperties of the optical pulse to be measured in an arbitrary polarizedstate becomes possible.

Moreover, optical pulse characterization can also be achieved by thefollowing steps: using an optical pulse to be measured as a probeoptical pulse, and using an optical pulse independent of the opticalpulse to be measured as a gate optical pulse; and entering both of theoptical pulses into the two-photon transition medium described above. Inthis case, an optical pulse which is free from intensity distortion andphase distortion can be used as the gate optical pulse, which enablesimprovement in accuracy of measurement. Additionally, at the same time,a spectrogram of an optical pulse constituted of different wavelengthcomponents in wavelength-multiplexed communication can be measuredcollectively for a common gate optical pulse.

Furthermore, high-sensitivity optical pulse characterization becomespossible by the following steps: colinearly entering the probe opticalpulse and the gate optical pulse into the two-photon transition medium;and utilizing a difference in beat frequency caused by interference witha reference optical pulse, a carrier frequency of which is differentfrom that of the probe optical pulse, to discriminate between theoptical pulse to be measured and the optical pulse by four-wave mixing.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an optical communication system comprising: an opticaltransmission line through which an optical pulse propagates; an elementfor compensating chromatic dispersion or polarization mode dispersion;an element for extracting an optical pulse for characterization bydiverting a part of optical power from the optical transmission line; aninstrument of optical pulse characterization, which is connected to theelement for extracting an optical pulse for characterization, accordingto any one of claim 2 through 8; and a control unit by which at leastone of chromatic dispersion, and polarization mode dispersion, of theoptical transmission line is measured by reading properties of awaveform of an optical pulse output from the instrument of optical pulsecharacterization, and thereby at least one of chromatic dispersion andpolarization mode dispersion, which occur in the element forcompensating at least one of chromatic dispersion and polarization modedispersion, is controlled so that, for example, at least one ofchromatic dispersion, and polarization mode dispersion, of the opticaltransmission line is minimized.

A still further aspect of an optical communication system according tothe present invention relates to wavelength-multiplexed transmission. Tobe more specific, it is an optical communication system comprising: anoptical transmission line for wavelength-multiplexed transmission,through which a wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse is transmitted; anelement for compensating at least one of chromatic dispersion,polarization mode dispersion, and propagation time betweenwavelength-multiplexed channels; an element for extracting an opticalpulse for characterization by diverting a part of optical power from theoptical transmission line; an instrument of optical pulsecharacterization, which is connected to the element for extracting anoptical pulse for characterization, according to any one of claim 2through 8; and a control unit by which from among chromatic dispersion,polarization mode dispersion, and crosstalk betweenwavelength-multiplexed channels, which occur in the optical transmissionline, at least one of them is measured by reading properties of awaveform of an optical pulse output from the instrument of optical pulsecharacterization, and thereby at least one of chromatic dispersion,polarization mode dispersion, and crosstalk betweenwavelength-multiplexed channels, which occur in the element forcompensating at least one of chromatic dispersion, polarization modedispersion, and crosstalk between wavelength-multiplexed channels, iscontrolled so that, for example, from among chromatic dispersion,polarization mode dispersion, and crosstalk betweenwavelength-multiplexed channels, which occur in the optical transmissionline, at least one of them is minimized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following description of embodiments with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating operation principles of aninstrument of optical pulse characterization according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a band structure diagram illustrating a physical process inwhich optical gate operation occurs;

FIG. 3 is a band structure diagram illustrating a physical process inwhich optical gate operation occurs;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure used as atwo-photon absorption medium;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating another structure used as atwo-photon absorption medium;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating another structure used as atwo-photon absorption medium;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating results obtained bymeasurement using an instrument of optical pulse characterizationaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of apolarization-independent optical pulse characterization instrumentaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are schematic diagrams illustrating a process oftwo-photon absorption and a process how a third optical pulse byfour-wave mixing occurs;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating the relationship between anelectronic state and an optical amplification area, which are involvedin two-photon transition;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure where there isno optical amplification medium in a two-photon transition medium;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating a surface structure of atwo-photon transition medium which includes an optical amplificationmedium;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating a slab structure of atwo-photon transition medium which includes an optical amplificationmedium;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of apolarization-independent optical pulse characterization instrumentaccording to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration by whichpolarization dependency of properties of an optical pulse in an opticalfiber transmission line is characterized using apolarization-independent optical pulse characterization instrument;

FIGS. 16A to 16C are diagrams illustrating an example of relationshipbetween delay time and a wavelength of an optical pulse;

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration by whichproperties of an optical pulse in a wavelength-multiplexed optical fibertransmission line is characterized using a polarization-independentoptical pulse characterization instrument;

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of the relationship betweendelay time and a wavelength of an optical pulse;

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of apolarization-independent high-sensitivity optical pulse characterizationinstrument according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a diagram exemplifying a configuration, by which dispersioncompensation is performed in an optical fiber transmission system,according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 21 is a diagram exemplifying a configuration, by which dispersioncompensation or crosstalk elimination is performed in awavelength-multiplexed optical fiber transmission system, according to aseventh embodiment of the present invention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

To begin with, principles of the present invention will be described indetail, and then specific embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed.

Principles of Optical Pulse Characterization Using Two-photon AbsorptionMedium, Which Underlies the Present Invention

Characterization of an optical pulse being transmitted through anoptical fiber and an optical pulse emitted by an ultrahigh-speedoptoelectronic material/structure is indispensable to development of anultrahigh-speed optical-fiber transmission system and an ultrahigh-speedoptoelectronic element. The optical pulse is in a state in whichamplitude of sine wave vibration of a light wave is not zero only duringa limited period of time. Therefore, in order to characterize theoptical pulse, it is necessary to determine the intensity and phase ofthe optical pulse. If a numerical formula is used, an electric field E(t) of an optical pulse can be expressed as a function of time t asbelow.

E(t)=|E(t)|·e ^(i{−2π∫t+φ(t)})  (1)

where |E(t)| is field intensity of an optical pulse, i is an imaginaryunit, f is a frequency, and f(t) is a phase. Because characterization ofthe optical pulse is based on the formula (1), the characterizationinvolves determination of |E(t)| and f(t) and discussion about timedependency thereof. In the present invention, a distortionless opticalpulse is defined as an optical pulse characterized by the following (i)and (ii): (i) As is the case with the Gauss function, |E(t)| issymmetric with respect to time, and is unimodal; (ii) f(t) does not havetime dependency, in other words, it is constant. In contrast with this,if the optical pulse has distortion, |E(t)| is not symmetric, but has anumber of peaks. Additionally, f(t) becomes time dependent, which isexpressed by the following formula;

φ(t)=φ₀+φ⁽¹⁾ ·t+φ ⁽²⁾ ·t ²+φ⁽³⁾ ·t ³+ . . . +φ_(SPM)(t)  (2)

where a first-order coefficient f⁽⁰⁾ of t is group velocity; acoefficient of second or higher order f^((n)) is quantity relating ton-order group velocity dispersion; and f_(SPM) (t) corresponds to aphase shift by self-phase modulation of the optical pulse. Usually,f_(SPM) (t) is proportional to differentiation of |E(t)|². The largerthese coefficients become, the larger distortion of the optical pulsebecomes. Judging from the formulas (1) and (2), quantity values whichshould be determined to characterize the optical pulse are |E(t)|, f⁽⁰⁾,f^((n)), and a proportional coefficient in f_(SPM)(t).

If a time length of the optical pulse is shorter than 1 ps, that is tosay, if its time scale is femtosecond (1 fs=10⁻¹⁵ sec.), an electricmeasuring instrument into which a spectroscope and a high-speedphotodetector are combined cannot cope with the time scale. For thisreason, a spectrogram is measured from time and frequency resolutionaccording to correlation between optical pulses; and using thespectrogram, the intensity and phase of the optical pulse to be measuredare replicated by means of a rebuilding algorithm. This is an analysistechnique used in FROG.

Conventionally, an optical gate function which is achieved by two-photonabsorption requires optical pulse energy of about 100 nJ. However,selecting a material and a structure in response to a wavelength of aband to be measured enables realization of the optical gate functioneven for pulse energy of 100 fJ or less or peak power of 1 W or less.

Principles of measurement of an optical-pulse spectrogram on the basisof the optical gate function utilizing two-photon absorption will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 1 as below.

Using a beam splitter, an optical pulse to be measured is separated intoa probe optical pulse, which is an optical pulse to be measured, and agate optical pulse. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating aconfiguration of a device for measuring a spectrogram of a probe opticalpulse.

A two-photon absorption medium 1 is used as a medium for generating anoptical gate function which is a basic process of time and frequencyresolution. Two-photon absorption is a nonlinear effect which iscomplementary to an optical Kerr effect, and this is a process whichdepends on an imaginary part of a nonlinear refractive index (theoptical Kerr effect depends on its real part). The probe optical pulse 2and the gate optical pulse 3 are entered into the two-photon absorptionmedium 1 so that both of the optical pulses cross each other. Here, anelectric field of the probe optical pulse 2 is defined as E_(probe)(t);and power of the gate optical pulse 3 is defined as I gate (t−τ). Inthis case, the first t represents time and the second t represents delaytime. Timing of the gate optical pulse is swept with variable timedelay. In the two-photon absorption medium 1, if there is a part wherethe probe optical pulse 2 overlaps with the gate optical pulse 3 withrespect time, two-photon absorption occurs between both of the pulses,which results in decrease in transmission intensity of the probe opticalpulse 2. Two-photon absorption power P_(TPA) is expressed by a formula(3) as below.

P _(TPA) =β·I _(gate) ·|E _(probe)|²  (3)

where b is two-photon absorption efficiency. It is to be noted thatbecause an incidence plane and an emittance plane (transmission plane)in the two-photon absorption medium 1 is coated so as to achieveanti-reflection, it is assumed that interference caused by reflectionand multiple reflection can be ignored. An optical pulse which isindependent of an optical pulse to be measured can also be used As agate optical pulse.

Because a distortionless pulse can be used as a gate optical pulse inthis method, the accuracy of measurement can be improved. However,timing synchronization between the optical pulse to be measured and thegate optical pulse must be one hundredth of an autocorrelation width ofthe pulse or less. Accordingly, it can be easily applied to ameasurement sample, an optical path length of which can be corrected onan optical table in a laboratory.

In a device configuration in which an incident optical pulse isseparated into a probe optical pulse and a gate optical pulse, if theincident optical pulse is separated so that power of the gate opticalpulse and the probe optical pulse is equal to prescribed incident power,P_(TPA) becomes the largest. In addition, if it is desired that atwo-photon absorption coefficient for |E probe| is made as large aspossible, power should be distributed to the gate optical pulse in sucha manner that a noise level becomes not more than {fraction (1/10)} of asignal. In response to the property of a signal, optimum distributionratio is used. A distribution ratio of power to the gate optical pulseand the probe optical pulse is set by changing reflection, andtransmittance, of a beam splitter. For example, if energy of an opticalpulse is 1 pJ or less, a distribution ratio is set at 1:1. In addition,if energy of an optical pulse is more than 1 pJ, in order to eliminatetwo-photon absorption of the probe optical pulse itself, powerdistribution to the probe optical pulse is limited within the limit ofgreater than or equal to a value which is one hundred times as much as anoise level. In order to select a distribution ratio, the beam splitteris replaced with another beam splitter having different reflectance andtransmittance in turns. Although the latter is superior in usability, atotal thickness of an optical component to be used increases. This mayproduce a problem of a pulse width which is extended by dispersion ofthe optical component.

As it is clearly understood from the principles, an instrument ofoptical pulse characterization according to the present invention isconfigured in the following manner: a fundamental absorption edgefrequency of an element which constitutes a part, or the whole, of astructure comprising a medium, in which two-photon transition causes achange in transmittance or generates an optical pulse, becomes lowerthan or equal to a value which is twice as high as a central frequencyof an optical pulse to be measured in an arbitrary polarized state; andin addition to it, the fundamental absorption edge frequency becomeshigher than or equal to the sum of the central frequency and a fullwidth at half maximum frequency of a spectrum of the optical pulse to bemeasured. A two-photon absorption medium in which efficiency of afrequency band of an optical pulse to be measured is high is selected Asthe two-photon absorption medium 1. If InP crystal is used in an opticalcommunication band, a wavelength of which ranges from 1300 to 1600 nm,anti-reflection coating in the form of a plane having a thickness of 300mm or less permits a spectrogram of an optical pulse having energy of 1pJ to be measured. If a wavelength is 1500 nm, its optical pulse energyis equivalent to about 7.5×10⁶ as the number of photons. The reason whytwo-photon absorption efficiency of the InP crystal is high issupposedly that one-photon direct transition having high dipole momentefficiency is nearly in an intermediate state. For further increase inefficiency of two-photon absorption, an optical pulse is condensed on atwo-photon absorption medium. A diameter of the condensed beam is from 2to 5 mm. If intensity of the optical pulse to be measured is low, forexample, if pulse energy is less than or equal to 100 fJ or if peakpower is less than or equal to 1 W, optical amplification issimultaneously performed using a two-photon absorption medium, which hasa structure described below, to improve measurement sensitivity. Thisrequires a pump source 7 which produces a gain by pumping light orelectric current. As described below, in the case where opticalamplification is performed in an InGaAs/InP quantum-well opticalwaveguide structure having a length of 200 mm by pumping electriccurrent of 100 mA, if pulse energy of the probe optical pulse 2 is 50 fJand that of the gate optical pulse 3 is also 50 fJ, electric fieldabsorption intensity of the probe optical pulse 2 in the two-photonabsorption medium 1 is 10% of field intensity at the time of incidence(19% if it is converted into power). The resulting change in voltagedetected by the detector 6 is 5 mV or more at a wavelength of 1500 nm.Because a noise level of the detected voltage can be reduced to 50 mV orless, a S/N ratio becomes 100:1 or more.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are band structure diagrams schematically illustrating aprocess progressing in the two-photon absorption medium 1. If thetwo-photon absorption medium is a solid such as InP, two-photontransition occurs between a valence band and a conduction band. In FIG.2, a state of a top of the valence band is shown as |0>, a state of abottom of the conduction band is shown as |1>, and a transition processis indicated by the arrow. In the case of a medium targeted in FIG. 2,band gap energy is higher than one-photon energy of an optical pulse tobe measured, and is lower than two-photon energy of the optical pulse.In the first place, transition 8 by a gate optical pulse causestransition to an intermediate state |m>. There is no steady state in aband gap, but a virtual state only having an infinitesimal life existsthere. The infinitesimal life enables an ultrahigh-speed optical gatefunction. Transition from the intermediate state |m> to the conductionband occurs as transition 9 by a probe optical pulse. In contrast withthis, even if the transition by the probe optical pulse becomestransition from a valence band to an intermediate state, or even if thetransition by the gate optical pulse becomes transition from anintermediate state to a conduction band, an obtained response is thesame. The former and the latter processes degenerate from a physicalpoint of view.

A thickness and a length of the two-photon absorption medium should bereduced to a degree that the values can be ignored ({fraction (1/50)} orless) as compared with a spectrum width and an autocorrelation width ofthe optical pulse measured when optical pulse extension by groupvelocity dispersion of a medium enters. This requires, for example,dispersion measurement to obtain a rough standard of an upper limit of amedium length, as described in IEEE J. Quantum Electron, 1991, Vol. 27,pp. 1280-1287, by K. Naganuma and H. Yasaka. If InP crystal is used, anoptical pulse having a spectrum width of 20 nm and an autocorrelationpulse width of 100 fs at a wavelength of 1500 nm should have a thicknessof 300 mm or less.

Because two-photon absorption is a third-order nonlinear optical effect,an imaginary part (absorption) of a third-order nonlinear coefficient isinvolved. However, if an absorption coefficient is intensity dependent,a refractive index as a real part also becomes intensity dependent,causing the refractive index to change in response to a change inintensity of the optical pulse with time. The change in refractive indexwith time is equivalent to a change in optical path length with time.Therefore, spectrum modulation of an optical pulse by a Doppler shift ofa light wave is performed. As a result, a spectrum of an emitted opticalpulse is different from a spectrum of an incident pulse. The effectwhich is called self-phase modulation cannot be avoided as long as anonlinear optical effect is used for an optical gate. However, it ispossible to reduce the self-phase modulation by suppressing opticalpulse energy. A spectrum of transmitting probe and gate optical pulsesis compared with that of probe and gate optical pulses before incidence.Then, incident pulse energy is adjusted so that it does not changewithin range of a noise level. On this point, when InP crystal is used,a standard of an upper limit of pulse energy is from 100 to 500 pJ whena condensed beam diameter is from 2 to 5 mm. It is to be noted that if atwo-photon absorption medium is an InP material, and when opticalamplification is simultaneously performed, a standard value of thisupper limit is in inversely proportional to a gain.

When optical amplification is simultaneously performed, it is necessaryto embed an amplification medium simultaneously. In the amplificationmedium, as shown in FIG. 3, a band gap between a top of a valence band|0′>and a bottom of a conduction band |1′> should be smaller thanone-photon energy, which is in a gain area 10. A gain energy widthDE_(gain), and an energy position of the gain area, are set so as tocover an energy area corresponding to a spectrum width of the opticalpulse to be measured. There is a possibility that two-photon absorptionwill occur even in an amplification medium. In such a case, assumingthat a virtual state in a conduction band is an intermediate state |m′>,transition 8 and 9 by the gate optical pulse and the probe optical pulsewill occur.

Three ways of building a structure of the two-photon absorption medium 1are shown in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6. If the structure is not accompanied byamplification, as shown in FIG. 4, a structure to which anti-reflectioncoating is applied on an incidence plane 12 and a transmission plane 13of a two-photon absorbing material 11 is used. In the opticalcommunication band described above, InP having a thickness of 200 mm isused as the two-photon absorbing material 11. In a wavelength banddifferent from the above-mentioned band, a material, energy of which islarger than one-photon energy and smaller than two-photon energy, andwhich is characterized by high efficiency of two-photon absorption, isused. For example, in a wavelength band of about 800 through 1000 nm,GaAs, ZnSe, In_(1-x)Al_(x)As, and In_(1-x)Ga_(x)P are appropriate. Inresponse to a target wavelength, a composition ratio 1-x:x is set. Inthis connection, in the figure, in represents light incidence, and outrepresents light emittance. In and out are also used in a similar mannerin drawings mentioned below.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate an example that can be used when anamplification medium is included. To be more specific, FIG. 5illustrates a surface type structure, and FIG. 6 illustrates a waveguidetype structure. In the optical communication band, anIn_(1-x)Ga_(x)As/InP quantum well is appropriate as the surface typestructure. An In_(1-x)Ga_(x)As/InP quantum well in which 50 periodslamination is performed is used.

In FIG. 5, a two-photon absorption layer 14 and an amplification layer15 are mainly an InP barrier and an In_(1-x)Ga_(x)As quantum wellrespectively. However, two-photon absorption occurs simultaneously evenin a quantum well layer. Here, when x=0.47, lattice matching with InP isachieved. At a wavelength of 1500 nm, a thickness of a quantum well is 7nm, and a barrier has a thickness of 10 nm. Optical pumping 16 isperformed to produce a gain. As is the case with FIG. 4, anti-reflectioncoating is provided on an incidence plane and a transmission plane.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a single-mode optical waveguide type.An active region 17 is the In_(1-x)Ga_(x)As/InP quantum well which isthe same as FIG. 5. However, it has five periods. In order to change aquantum well into an amplification medium, current injection 18 isperformed. In a waveguide, a PIN junction is formed in a currentinjection direction. This structure functions as a semiconductorwaveguide type optical amplifier. An injected current level is adjustedso as to avoid gain from saturating caused by an incident probe opticalpulse and an incident gate optical pulse. Because an incidence plane anda transmission plane reduce internal reflection, the planes are slantedfrom a surface which is perpendicular to a travelling direction of lightin a waveguide (q=5°), and as is the case with FIG. 4, anti-reflectioncoating is provided. The waveguide has a length of 200 mm.

FIG. 7 outlines measured properties. The physical quantity to bemeasured is intensity of electric-field absorption |A(f,t)| bytwo-photon absorption of a probe optical pulse, which is a function of afrequency f and delay time t. Although the frequency f and the delaytime t are repeatedly swept, the frequency is swept faster than delaytime. In this case, |A(f,t)| is measured for a certain constant delaytime.

A left graph in FIG. 7 illustrates a waveform obtained at this time.Measuring |A(f,t)| while changing delay time in succession provides, asa right graph in FIG. 1G, properties of |A(f,t)| for which time andfrequency resolution has been performed. In this connection, aspectrogram S(f,t) is represented by an numerical expression illustratedin FIG. 7.

|A(f, τ)|∝S(f, τ)=|∫dtE _(probe)(t)I _(gate)(t−τ)e ^(−i2πft)|  (4)

According to this numerical expression, S(f,t) is proportional to|A(f,t)|. Accordingly, time and frequency properties of the opticalpulse to be measured can be obtained from time and frequency resolveddata of field intensity in two-photon absorption of the probe opticalpulse. As is the case with the prior art, optical pulse characterizationcan be achieved by rebuilding the time and frequency properties inintensity and a phase.

Disadvantages of a Technique in Which an Optical Pulse to be Measuredand a Gate Optical Pulse are Colinearly Entered in a Two-PhotonAbsorption Medium

It is to be noted that as a method for improving measurementsensitivity, colinear placement by which a gate optical pulse and aprobe optical pulse are overlaid on an axis is conventionally adopted.However, the colinear placement produces problems, which wereconventionally ignored. Attention should be paid to the problems, andtherefore some measures should be taken for the problems. The problemsare caused by the following: a state excited by two-photon transitionforms a coherent state which is free from phase disturbance; and whenthe coherent state is induced by other optical pulses and therebyrelieved to a ground state, a third optical pulse, that is to say, anoptical pulse by four-wave mixing, is generated. For example, a coherentstate, which has been created by two-photon transition of a gate opticalpulse, is induced by an electric field of a probe optical pulse (opticalpulse to be measured), resulting in generation of an optical pulse byfour-wave mixing. This third optical pulse by four-wave mixing is in thesame polarized state as that of the probe optical pulse. In the colinearplacement, the third optical pulse propagates in the same direction asthe probe optical pulse. Therefore, the third optical pulse and theprobe optical pulse interfere with each other, causing noise. Because aratio of created coherent states was considered to be low in the past,noise caused by a conflict between two-photon absorption and four-wavemixing was ignored. However, it is found out that intensity of the thirdoptical pulse by four-wave mixing is almost the same as an absolutevalue of a change in intensity of a probe optical pulse by two-photonabsorption. Because of it, if colinear placement is adopted to improvesensitivity, it is necessary to provide a new means for discriminatingbetween the third optical pulse and the probe optical pulse by four-wavemixing. The present invention provides a means for discriminatingbetween the probe optical pulse and the third optical pulse by newlyusing a reference optical pulse. The pulses are discriminated judgingfrom difference in beat frequency caused by interference with thereference optical pulse. This enables elimination of noise generated byinterference between a probe optical pulse and the third optical pulseby four-wave mixing, which occurs in the conventional techniques of weakoptical pulse characterization by colinear placement.

First Embodiment

To begin with, an example of spectrogram measurement using aconfiguration in which an optical pulse to be measured in an arbitrarypolarized state is used as a probe optical pulse and a gate opticalpulse, and principles of polarization independent spectrogrammeasurement, will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 8is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an instrument ofoptical pulse characterization according to this embodiment. FIGS. 9Aand 9B is a diagram illustrating a quantum process in the cases oftwo-photon absorption process (9A) and four-wave mixing (9B).Specifications of the optical pulse to be measured are as follows:central wavelength is 1550 nm; pulse width is 200 fs; spectrum width is15 nm; pulse energy is 10 pJ; and pulse repetition rate is 10 GHz.

Using a polarization independent beam splitter 102, an optical pulse tobe measured 101 in an arbitrary polarized state is separated into aprobe optical pulse 103, which is an optical pulses to be measured, anda gate optical pulse 104. Specifications of the polarization independentbeam splitter 102 are as follows: both of transmittance and reflectanceof s polarized light are 48% at a wavelength of 1550 nm (error of ±1%);both of transmittance and reflectance of p polarized light are also 48%at a wavelength of 1550 nm (error of ±1%); and centering at 1550 nm,within a wavelength range of 50 nm, fluctuations in transmittance andreflectance for s and p polarized light are 5% or less. Variable delaytime is added to the gate optical pulse 104 by a polarizationindependent roof retroreflector 105 which is translationally drivenbackward and forward. For elimination of a background component, andnoise reduction, by lock-in detection, the probe optical pulse 103 andthe gate optical pulse 104 are modulated by light intensity modulators106 and 107 respectively, or only the gate optical pulse 104 ismodulated by the light intensity modulator 107. If residual lightintensity of the gate optical pulse is high and thereby its backgroundcomponent produces a problem of measurement, both pulses are modulated.If not, modulation of only the gate optical pulse 104 suffices. In theformer case, as modulation electric frequencies for the probe opticalpulse 103 and the gate optical pulse 104, 1020 kHz and 850 kHz areprovided respectively. As a reference electric frequency (ref.) oflock-in detection, 170 kHz which is a difference frequency is provided.If only the gate optical pulse 104 is modulated, both of the modulationelectric frequency and the reference electric frequency are 170 kHz. IfFIG. 8 is roughly divided, an upper half of the figure illustrates atwo-photon correlation optical system where a symbol M indicates apolarization independent total reflection mirror.

The probe optical pulse 103 and the gate optical pulse 104 are condensedthrough a condenser lens 108 before they are entered into a two-photontransition medium 109. The condenser lens 108 is an aspherical lenshaving a focus length of 10 mm. A diameter of a condensed beam is 10 μm.The two-photon transition medium 109 is InP crystal having a thicknessof 0.3 mm, an incidence plane and an emittance plane of which areprovided with anti-reflection coating. If each of incident angles of theprobe optical pulse 103 and the gate optical pulse 104 is 5 degrees orless with reference to a normal line to a surface of the InP crystal onwhich anti-reflection coating is provided, it is substantiallypolarization independent of two-photon transition (change is 6% orless). Because antireflection coating is provided, reflection from thetwo-photon transition medium 109 can be ignored.

The transmitted gate optical pulse is shielded by a beam block 111. Asother optical pulses which are emitted, there are a transmitting probeoptical pulse 112 and a third optical pulse 113 by four-wave mixing.

Intensity of the transmitting probe optical pulse 112 changes bytwo-photon absorption in the two-photon transition medium 109. FIG. 9Aschematically illustrated a two-photon absorption process which causes achange in intensity of the transmitting probe optical pulse 112. Whenthe gate optical pulse 201 and the probe optical pulse 202 entersimultaneously, two-photon absorption occurs, causing an electron tochange from an initial state |0> to an end state |1>. An intermediatestate |m> is a virtual state. In other words, in a wavelength band or afrequency band in proximity to the intermediate state, there is no realstate. Accordingly, one-photon transition does not occur. However, thenearer a wavelength, or a frequency, of the intermediate stateapproaches a wavelength, or a frequency, of a fundamental absorptionedge by one-photon transition in the two-photon transition medium, thehigher efficiency of two-photon transition increases. However, if it istoo near, real excitation by one photon and an absorption edge shift bymany-body effect are caused, resulting in degradation of the opticalgate function. A rough standard for obtaining an efficient optical gatefunction by two-photon transition is given as follows: a frequency of afundamental absorption edge of the two-photon transition medium is lowerthan or equal to a value which is twice as high as a central frequencyof an incident optical pulse; and in addition to it, the frequency ofthe fundamental absorption edge of the two-photon transition medium ishigher than or equal to the sum of the central frequency of the opticalpulse and a value which is ten times as high as a full width at halfmaximum frequency of a spectrum. It is to be noted that even if the gateoptical pulse 201 and the probe optical pulse 202 are swapped with eachother in FIG. 9A, an occurring phenomenon is equivalent. Whendetermining a thickness of the two-photon transition medium, it is to beensured that chromatic dispersion in the two-photon transition mediumdoes not cause an optical pulse to spread.

FIG. 9B schematically illustrates a process in which the third opticalpulse 113 is generated by four-wave mixing. A gate optical pulse 203causes two-photon transition from an initial state |0> to an end state|1> through a virtual intermediate state |m>. If coherence of the endstate is kept, relaxation of radiation to an initial state induced by aprobe optical pulse 204 occurs, which generates the third optical pulse205. Even if the probe optical pulse 204 and the third optical pulse 205are swapped with each other, the process is equivalent. In the case ofthe two-photon transition medium at a room temperature, a period of timeduring which coherence of an end state is kept is extremely short. At apulse width of about 100 fs, coherence is substantially kept only whenthe gate optical pulse 203 and the probe optical pulse 204 entersimultaneously. This fact indicates that the four-wave mixing functionsas an ultrahigh-speed optical gate. The two-photon absorption and thefour-wave mixing, which have been described here, are processes whichconflict with each other. When intensity of the gate optical pulse isnearly equal to that of the probe optical pulse, both processes can beachieved similarly. However, because the four-wave mixing requirescoherence in an end state, intensity of the four-wave mixing is ingeneral lower than that of the two-photon absorption. Accordingly, ifthe probe optical pulse 112, intensity of which has been changed bytwo-photon absorption, is used as an optical pulse to be measured,sensitivity often becomes high. Nevertheless, when measuring intensityof two-photon absorption, it is necessary to eliminate transmissionintensity of the probe optical pulse 112 by lock-in detection.Therefore, there is fear of degradation of sensitivity caused byresidual noise of transmission intensity. Such degradation ofsensitivity becomes serious if the optical pulse to be measured includesa residual background component which becomes noise such as a pedestal.If background noise by a pedestal produces a problem, the third pulse113 by four-wave mixing may be used as the optical pulse to be measured114. In this connection, in the processes in FIG. 9A, attention shouldbe given to the fact that a sign of a delay time axis of a spectrogramis inverted. In addition, because there is no background component oftransmitted light in four-wave mixing, if sensitivity of opticaldetection is high, it is not necessary to perform lock-in detection. Insuch a case, optical pulse characterization can be achieved by aconfiguration excluding a light intensity modulator and a lock-inamplifier. In this case, because there is no limit of sweep time by asignal integration time constant in the lock-in amplifier, high speedsweep is possible as long as delay time and a spectrum sweep systemrespond.

When analyzing influence of polarization mode dispersion, only aspecific polarized component of the optical pulse to be measured 114 isextracted using a polarized separation element 115. If a spectrogram forpolarized two components, which are independent of each other ororthogonal to each other, is measured by rotating a polarized axis ofthe polarized separation element, it is possible to distinguish adifference in optical pulse property resulting from polarization, whichenables characterization of polarization mode dispersion. If allpolarized components are measured without resolving them into polarizedcomponents, removing the polarized separation element 115 from anoptical path of the optical pulse to be measured suffices. Here, alinear polarizer is used as the polarized separation element 115 tomeasure a spectrogram for linear polarization of two componentsorthogonal to each other, and thereby polarization dependency isanalyzed.

The lower part of FIG. 8 illustrates a chromatic dispersion unit. A partof an optical pulse to be measured, or all polarized components, arecondensed on an incident slit 117 of the chromatic dispersion unit by acondenser lens 116. The optical pulse to be measured 114 which passedthrough the incident slit 117 is changed to parallel luminous flux by anincident-side spherical mirror 118. Then, chromatic dispersion isperformed for the optical pulse to be measured 114 on a polarizationindependent diffraction grating 119. The optical pulse to be measured114, for which chromatic dispersion has been performed, is reflected byan emittance side spherical mirror 120 and a rotation mirror 121. Then,image formation as a chromatic dispersion image is performed on anemittance slit 122. A rotating mirror 121 has a configuration in which apolarization-independent total-reflection plate mirror is mounted to arotation axis of a motor producing repetitive rotational motion aroundone axis so that a reflection plane is provided in a plane parallel tothe rotation axis, a center of which is included in the plane. Therotating mirror 121 is secured in such a manner that a central axis ofthe optical pulse to be measured 114, in a traveling direction, which isreflected by an emittance side spherical mirror 120, is orthogonal tothe rotation axis of the rotating mirror 121. Detecting intensity of theoptical pulse to be measured 114 passing through an emittance slit 122by a photodetector 123 in synchronization with rotation of the mirrorenables measurement of change in light intensity resulting fromwavelength sweep. A detected electric signal from the photodetector 123is inputted into a lock-in amplifier 124 where lock-in detection isperformed for a reference electric frequency (ref.) from the lightintensity modulators 106 and 107. 0.1 ms is given to an integration timeconstant in the lock-in amplifier 124. A spectrogram can be obtained bymeasuring an output voltage from the lock-in amplifier 124 as a functionof a wavelength reference signal (λ-base) and a delay time referencesignal (τ-base). If the optical pulse to be measured 114 is thetransmitting probe optical pulse 112, an output signal from the lock-inamplifier 124 is proportional to intensity of two-photon absorption. Ifthe optical pulse to be measured 114 is the third optical pulse 113 byfour-wave mixing, the output signal from the lock-in amplifier 124 isproportional to intensity of transient diffraction by four-wave mixing.A display/analyzing unit 125 takes charge of the following work:displaying a spectrogram in real time; and calculating a change withtime in intensity of an optical pulse, a change with time in phase ofthe optical pulse, and change in wavelength (or frequency), from thespectrogram. A wavelength reference signal can be obtained by convertingan output signal of an angle sensor into a wavelength. The angle sensoris mounted to a rotation axis of the rotating mirror 122. A delay timereference signal can be obtained by converting an output signal of aposition sensor into delay time. The position sensor is mounted on atranslational driving unit of the polarization independent roofretroreflector 105. A sweep rate for wavelength sweep is 80 Hz; and asweep rate for delay time sweep is 0.56 Hz. Accordingly, one framespectrogram can be obtained at every 1.8 second. The number of pixelsfor wavelength sweep is 128; and the number of pixels for delay timesweep is also 128. At the time of measurement which uses four-wavemixing as an optical gate, if lock-in detection is not used, there is nolimit of sweep time by an integration time constant, which enablesacquisition of one frame spectrogram at every 0.1 second.

Second Embodiment

If it is difficult to measure a spectrogram because energy of an opticalpulse to be measured is low, providing a two-photon transition mediumand an optical amplification medium at the same time enables increase inmeasurement sensitivity. At a wavelength of 1550 nm, an opticalamplification medium has, for example, an In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As quantumwell having a thickness of 10 nm. Current injection, or optical pumping,into this quantum well causes population inversion. As a result, thequantum well functions as an amplification medium in the wavelengtharea. In addition, an InGaAsP quaternary compound film which has afundamental absorption edge in the same wavelength area can also beused. FIG. 10 illustrates a state of an electron when there is anamplification medium. For an initial state |0>, a virtual intermediatestate |m>, and an end state |1>, of an InP two-photon transition medium,an optical amplification area 301 is distributed over an area whichincludes the virtual intermediate state |m> (illustrated by obliquelines in the figure). Reserving a wavelength width αλ of the opticalamplification area 301 so that αλ becomes more than or equal to a valuewhich is three times as wide as a wavelength width of the optical pulseto be measured enables amplification in a state in which a shape of aspectrum of the optical pulse to be measured is saved. Additionally,care should be taken not to saturate a gain of an optical amplificationmedium. If a gain is saturated, a waveform of the optical pulse to bemeasured becomes distorted, which hinders correct measurement.

FIGS. 12 and 13 are perspective views illustrating a two-photontransition medium which includes an optical amplification medium. FIG.11 is used for comparison with the above; that is to say, this figure isa perspective view illustrating a medium which does not include theoptical amplification medium. If the optical amplification medium is notincluded, the two-photon transition medium is, for example, InP crystal400 on which anti-reflection coating is provided, as described in thefirst embodiment. FIG. 12 schematically illustrates a surface structurewhich includes the optical amplification medium. In this case, a layer403 which includes the optical amplification medium is laminated on theInP crystal 400 (thickness is 0.2 mm). The layer 403 which includes theoptical amplification medium is provided on the incidence plane side. Inthis connection, as is the case with FIG. 11, anti-reflection coating isprovided on an incidence plane and an emittance plane. If the layer 403which includes the optical amplification medium is exemplified, it is alayer on which 50 period lamination is performed by using the followingas a barrier: an In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As quantum well having a thickness of10 nm; and an InGaAsP (thickness is 10 nm), a fundamental absorptionedge wavelength of which is 1250 nm. Entering exciting light 407 from aexciting light source 406 into this structure produces a gain in anarea, a center of which is the virtual intermediate state in FIG. 10. Alaser diode which oscillates at a wavelength of about 980 nm is used asthe exciting light source 406. Using this structure as a substitute fortwo-photon transition medium 109 described in the first embodimentenables increase in measurement sensitivity by ten times.

Use of a slab structure shown in FIG. 13 also enables increase insensitivity similarly. As a layer 408 which includes an opticalamplification medium, an optical waveguide layer which includes thefollowing is used: an In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As quantum well having athickness of 10 nm, and having five periods centrally; and an InGaAsP(thickness is 10 nm) barrier pair, a fundamental absorption edgewavelength of which is 1250 nm. In this connection, reference numeral400 is InP crystal. When producing a gain by optical pumping, excitinglight 412 from the exciting light source 411 is used. Specifications ofthe exciting light source 411, which are the same as those shown in FIG.12, are used. When producing a gain by optical waveguide currentinjection, it is required that the optical waveguide layer forms acurrent injection junction. Therefore, the InP crystal to be used, whichis a substrate on which these layers are laminated, must haveconductivity. A lead wire 414 used for current injection from a currentinjection source 413 is connected to the top surface of the layer 408which includes the optical amplification medium. On the back of thesubstrate, anti-reflection coating is provided on an incidence plane andan emittance plane, having a slab structure, on which earth connectionis made. As described in the first embodiment, the probe optical pulse409 and the gate optical pulse 410 should enter in a lateral direction;that is to say, the pulses should enter while crossing each other in asurface parallel to a substrate surface. Moreover, it is necessary todefine a width in a lateral direction of a slab waveguide layer so thatthe transmitting probe optical pulse and the third optical pulse byfour-wave mixing can be extracted. In a structure having a length of 0.2mm, 0.04 mm or more is required for a width in a lateral direction ofthe slab waveguide layer in FIG. 12.

In the above-mentioned layer which includes the optical amplificationmedium, there is no InGaAs quantum well which becomes an amplificationmedium. Therefore, measurement sensitivity increases even if only anInGaAsP barrier is used. The reason is that a wavelength of afundamental absorption edge of the InGaAsP barrier is longer than thatof InP, and is near to a central wavelength of the optical pulse to bemeasured, resulting in increase in intensity of an oscillator intransition through a virtual intermediate state. Accordingly, increasein measurement sensitivity is achieved only by laminating InGaAsP, whichis provided on the InP substrate as the barrier, by a thickness of about1 μm.

Third Embodiment

A case where an optical pulse which is different from a probe opticalpulse is used as a gate optical pulse will be described with referenceto FIG. 14. A gate optical pulse 501 is required to have the samerepetition rate as that of a probe optical pulse 502 which is an opticalpulse to be measured. Therefore, clock extraction is performed for arepetition rate of the optical pulse to be measured, and then the gateoptical pulse 501 is generated using the clock. If a time length of theoptical pulse to be measured is long (for example, 10 ps or more), or ifthe optical pulse to be measured is in a state in which independentpulses stretch in a row, as described in the first embodiment, use ofthe optical pulse to be measured as a gate optical pulse causes aspectrogram to become complicated, resulting in difficulty in analyzingoptical pulse properties. In such a case, if a single ultrashort opticalpulse, which is in a Fourier transform limit, is used as the gateoptical pulse 501 to measures a spectrogram by a device which uses aconfiguration shown in FIG. 14, analysis of optical pulse propertiesbecomes easy. A disadvantage is that resolution of measuring timedepends on accuracy of clock extraction from the optical pulse to bemeasured. Because the gate optical pulse 501 is independent of the probeoptical pulse 502, a polarization independent beam splitter is notrequired. The other parts are the same as a device configuration shownin FIG. 8. Therefore, a method for improving sensitivity described inthe second embodiment can be applied.

Fourth Embodiment

Examples in which the polarization-independent optical pulsecharacterization instrument described in the first, second, and thirdembodiments is used for characterization of an optical pulse propagatingthrough an optical fiber transmission line will be described withreference to FIGS. 15 through 17. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating aconfiguration example of optical pulse characterization in an opticalfiber transmission line according to this embodiment. FIGS. 16A to 16Care diagrams illustrating an example of relation between time andwavelength properties of an optical pulse and a polarized component.FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of opticalpulse characterization in an optical fiber transmission line at the timeof wavelength-multiplexed communication. FIG. 18 is a diagramillustrating relationship between delay time, and a wavelength, of anoptical pulse.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a device which has the configurationdescribed in the first embodiment; in this case, a gate optical pulsegenerates an optical pulse to be measured through a polarizationindependent beam splitter. An optical fiber transmission line 601 is atransmission line having a total length of 100 km, to which a dispersioncompensation single mode optical fiber, a dispersion shift single modeoptical fiber, and a normal dispersion single-mode optical fiber areconnected. Total group velocity dispersion is 0, and optical pulsemodification by a nonlinear effect is also suppressed. In thistransmission line, chromatic dispersion is controlled by a third-orderoperator. In addition, because a distance is long, influence ofpolarization mode dispersion cannot be ignored. For this reason, anoptical pulse is amplified by an optical amplifier 602 in advancewithout changing a waveform before the spectrogram measurement. If theloss does not produce a problem, the optical amplifier 602 may beomitted. The optical pulse to be measured is converted into parallelluminous flux by an optical fiber connecting unit 603, and then theparallel luminous flux is entered into a spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 604. A configuration of the spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 604 is the same as that illustrated in FIG. 8. In orderto improve sensitivity, a structure shown in FIG. 12 is adopted as atwo-photon transition medium. Judging from the measurement which doesnot use a polarized separation element, it is found out that an opticalpulse which has propagated through the optical fiber transmission line601 contains two components, each of which has a parabolically distortedwaveform mainly because of the third-order chromatic dispersion. Inaddition, a linear polarization element which is a polarized separationelement is rotated by 90 degrees to measure a spectrogram for linearpolarization of the two orthogonal components. As a result, time andwavelength properties of the optical pulse is separated by a polarizedcomponent, and thereby waveform distortion by polarization modedispersion can be characterized concurrently with chromatic dispersion.In examples in FIGS. 16A to 16C, when polarization is orthogonal, pulsecomponents are completely separated on a delay time axis, whichindicates that it is caused by first-order polarization mode dispersion.This method is also effective for characterization of second orderpolarization mode dispersion. In this case, it is discriminated by thefact that if polarization is different, a wavelength component differs.

A configuration shown in FIG. 17 is used for characterizing propertiesof pulse propagation in a wavelength-multiplexed optical fibertransmission line 701 through which optical pulses propagates; thenumber of the optical pulses is N, and each channel has a wavelength ofλ1 through λN. A wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse train isequivalent to a case where independent pulses stretches in a row toconstitute an optical pulse to be measured as described in the thirdembodiment. Accordingly, a part of energy of an optical pulse (forexample, λ1) in a certain one channel is extracted from a clock opticalpulse extracting port 702, and is then entered into a gate optical pulsegenerating unit 704 through a clock optical pulse extracting opticalfiber 703. An optical pulse of a Fourier transform limit is generatedfrom a pulse of a channel 1 as a gate optical pulse, is passed through agate optical pulse inputting optical fiber 705, and is then convertedinto parallel luminous flux by an optical fiber connecting unit for gateoptical pulse 706 before the parallel luminous flux is entered into aspectrogram measurement analyzing unit 709. The spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 709 has the configuration described in the thirdembodiment. On the other hand, if intensity of the optical pulse to bemeasured constituted of a wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse is low,the intensity is amplified so as to avoid distortion of an optical pulsewaveform in an optical amplifier 707. After that, the optical pulse tobe measured is converted into parallel luminous flux by an optical fiberconnecting unit for optical pulse to be measured 708, and then theparallel luminous flux is entered into a spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 709. This configuration enables the followingcharacterization: group velocity dispersion of an optical pulse for eachchannel; a difference in time and wavelength properties by polarizationmode dispersion; and a pulse delay between channels.

Fifth Embodiment

In the embodiments described above, in order to discriminate betweenoptical gate operation by four-wave mixing and that by two-photonabsorption, a gate optical pulse and a probe optical pulse are enteredinto a two-photon transition medium so that the pulses cross each other,and thereby a transmitting probe optical pulse and the third opticalpulse by four-wave mixing are spatially separated. However, in the caseof the crossing incidence, beam overlapping of a gate optical pulse anda probe optical pulse is limited to a part of the two-photon transitionmedium. Therefore, it is difficult to improve efficiency of an opticalgate so as to increase measurement sensitivity. For this reason, thegate optical pulse and the probe optical pulse are entered on the sameaxis so that the gate optical pulse and the probe optical pulse interactin the whole two-photon transition medium area to increase efficiency ofan optical gate, leading to high sensitivity characterization. Such anexample will be described with reference to FIG. 19. In this example, itis not possible to separate spatially a transmitting probe optical pulsefrom a third optical pulse by four-wave mixing. Therefore, after thetransmitting probe optical pulse and the third optical pulse passthrough an optical frequency shifter, the pulses interfere with areference optical pulse. Then, the pulses are separated using adifference between beat frequencies caused by the interference.

An optical pulse to be measured 801 is passed through an opticalfrequency shifter 802 to extract a reference optical pulse 803. As theoptical frequency shifter 802, for example, an optical frequency shifterwhich uses acousto-optic crystal, and which is not polarizationdependent in a spectrum to be measured, is selected. A carrier frequencyof the reference optical pulse 803 shifts upward only by 80 MHz. Theoptical pulse to be measured, which has passed through the opticalfrequency shifter 802, is given to another optical frequency shifter 804(equivalent to 802) where the optical pulse to be measured is separatedinto a probe optical pulse 805 and a gate optical pulse 806. A carrierfrequency of the probe optical pulse shifts upward only by 81 MHz. Thegate optical pulse 806 is intensity-modulated with a frequency of 170kHz by a light intensity modulator 807. Then, variable delay time isadded to the gate optical pulse 806 by a polarization independent roofretroreflector 808 which is translationally driven backward and forward.A reference frequency for lock-in detection is 170 kHz. In FIG. 19, asymbol M indicates a polarization independent total reflection mirror.The probe optical pulse 805 and the gate optical pulse 806 are directedto the same axis by a polarization independent beam coupler 809, and arethen condensed on an incidence plane of a two-photon transition medium811 by a condenser lens 810. All optical pulses emitted by an emittanceplane of the two-photon transition medium 811 are converted intoparallel luminous flux by a collimation lens 812. As the two-photontransition medium 811, a semiconductor optical waveguide amplifier(polarization dependence is 1 dB or less) in a single lateral mode isused. The optical amplification area 301 in FIG. 10 covers a spectrum ofthe optical pulse to be measured 801. All optical pulses emitted fromthe two-photon transition medium 811 are interfered with the referenceoptical pulse 803 by another polarized beam coupler 813. Because carrierfrequencies differ from each other by the optical frequency shifters 802and 804, a beat occurs at the different frequencies. If the referenceoptical pulse 803 interferes with a transmitting probe optical pulse, atransmitting gate optical pulse, a four-wave mixing optical pulse byprobe optical pulse two-photon transition, or a four-wave mixing opticalpulse by gate optical pulse two-photon transition, the frequency becomes1 MHz, 80 MHz, 82 MHz, or 161 MHz respectively.

An example in which an optical gate by two-photon absorption is utilizedwill be described as below. If an optical gate by four-wave mixing isused, a transmission center frequency of a band-pass filter describebelow is changed to the one equivalent to a beat frequency, and therebymeasurement is performed according to the points to be attended to asdescribed in the first embodiment.

To begin with, it is necessary to stabilize a phase of a beat caused byinterference. In order to achieve the stabilization, from among lightintensity components received by a photodetector 814, a beat componentof the probe optical pulse, which has experienced fluctuations inintensity by two-photon absorption, is extracted by a band-pass filter815. The band-pass filter 815 includes a transmission band having acentral frequency of 1 MHz, and having a width of 200 kHz. Referring toa phase of the beat component, and giving an inverted component of areference phase as feedback to a polarization independent roofretroreflector for phase control 817 by a phase controller 816, enablestabilization of a beat phase. If a phase of the beat component isstable from the beginning, the feedback is not necessary.

Another equivalent beam generated in a polarization independent beamcoupler 813 is led to a chromatic dispersion unit which is similar tothat shown in FIG. 1. Then, using a band-pass filter 820, only the beatcomponent is extracted from among the light signals received by aphotodetector 819, and lock-in detection is performed by a lock-inamplifier 821 with reference to an intensity modulation signal of a gateoptical pulse to display a two-photon absorption spectrogram on adisplay/analyzing unit 822. As a result, for an optical pulse to bemeasured which has a pulse width of 200 fs, sensitivity can be increasedup to a lowest detectable pulse energy of 10 fJ.

Sixth Embodiment

In the fourth embodiment, a method for characterizing a pulsepropagating through an optical fiber transmission line was describedwith reference to FIG. 15. Here, in this embodiment, a configuration inwhich on the basis of characterized waveform data, dispersioncompensation, or an optical pulse waveform, in an optical fibertransmission system is optimized to decrease an error rate at the timeof signal transmission will be described as below. FIG. 20 is a diagramillustrating a configuration example of an optical communication systemwhich performs dispersion compensation of an optical fiber. In thiscase, dispersion means chromatic dispersion or polarization modedispersion. It is assumed that an optical pulse 901 before dispersioncompensation propagates from left to right through an optical fibertransmission line 902 constituting a target transmission system. For thepurpose of compensating chromatic dispersion or polarization modedispersion, a dispersion compensator 903 is connected in the middle ofthe optical fiber transmission line. In order to extract an opticalpulse for monitoring 905, an optical pulse monitoring port 904 isprovided behind the dispersion compensator 903. The optical pulse formonitoring 905 is passed through an optical fiber for monitoring 906 tosplit the optical pulse for monitoring 905 into three paths leading tospectrogram measurement analyzing units 907 through 909. As comparedwith the quantity of dispersion occurring in the optical fibertransmission line 902, dispersion occurring in the optical fiber formonitoring 906 is suppressed to a level which can be ignored. Thespectrogram measurement analyzing units 907 through 909 are configuredin the same manner as the instrument of optical pulse characterizationshown in FIG. 8 or 19. Connection to the optical fiber for monitoring906 follows a configuration in FIG. 15. The spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 907 is used for chromatic dispersion characterization inall polarization components. If further reduction in polarizationdependency of the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 907 isrequired, connecting polarization eliminating element 910 to the frontpart of the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 907 suffices. If onlychromatic dispersion is characterized, connecting it to only thespectrogram measurement analyzing unit 907 is required. Connection tothe other two spectrogram measurement analyzing units 908 and 909 can beomitted. When characterizing optical pulse distortion by polarizationmode dispersion, it is necessary to measure a spectrogram in biaxialpolarization components orthogonal to each other. Here, through apolarized beam splitter 911, the optical pulse is split into two linearpolarization components; one is in a horizontal direction, and the otheris in a vertical direction in the figure. The component in a verticaldirection in the figure is characterized by the spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 908; and the component in a horizontal direction ischaracterized by the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 909. Thefollowing is transmitted to a dispersion control unit 912 as waveformdata: a spectrogram; or peak intensity time, and a spectrum dependenceproperty, in the spectrogram. In the dispersion control unit 912, on thebasis of the waveform data from the spectrogram measurement analyzingunits 907 through 909, a feedback signal for dispersion compensation istransmitted to the dispersion compensator 903. As a result, dispersionis eliminated from an optical pulse 913 after dispersion compensation atthe rear of the optical pulse monitoring port; or a waveform isoptimized in response to properties of the whole optical fibertransmission system.

Steps of dispersion compensation performed in the dispersion compensator903 will be described. In order to compensate chromatic dispersion, theoptical pulse to be compensated is passed through a chromatic dispersionbody such as a diffraction grating to resolve the optical pulse intowavelength components, which are then converted into parallel luminousflux. After that, a phase of each wavelength component is passed througha phase modulator where chromatic dispersion is eliminated. Moreover,the optical pulse is passed through another chromatic dispersion body inthe reverse direction, and thereby through a reverse process ofresolution into wavelength components, the optical pulse is convertedinto an optical pulse in which chromatic dispersion has beencompensated. As a method that enables such compensation, there is amethod in which a chromatic dispersion optical delay unit is used as adispersion compensator. In the chromatic dispersion optical delay unit,a diffraction grating, a lens, a liquid crystal spatial light modulator,a lens, and a diffraction grating are placed in series while they areseparated from each other only by a focal length of each lens. Inaddition, if a similar function is realized by an optical waveguide typeelement, a phase modulator array having the same number of elements isplaced after wavelength separation by an array waveguide diffractiongrating so as to eliminate dispersion. After that, another arraywaveguide diffraction grating is used as a wavelength-multiplexedcoupler. In the example described above, information which is given fromthe dispersion control unit 912 to the dispersion compensator 903 asfeedback is the quantity of phase shift in each wavelength component.

If polarization mode dispersion is compensated, two ways of methods canbe considered. In the first method, the dispersion compensator 903 isprovided with a half-wave plate after a quarter-wave plate. In thisconfiguration, polarization of an optical pulse is converted into astraight line by the quarter-wave plate; and an angle of linearpolarization is adjusted by the half-wave plate. Feedback information isan rotation angle of each of the wave plates. A case where dispersioncan be compensated in the steps is mainly a case where time-spectrumproperties of optical pulses do not change relating to spectrogramsmeasured by the instruments of optical pulse characterization 908 and909, or a case where they are equivalent to time-spectrum propertiesobtained from spectrograms of all polarization components measured bythe spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 907. In the second method, tobe more specific, if time-spectrum properties of optical pulses obtainedfrom the spectrogram measurement analyzing units 908 and 909 aredifferent from each other, dispersion may not be compensated using thesteps. In this case, a chromatic dispersion optical delay unit includinga liquid crystal spatial light modulator described in the steps ofchromatic dispersion compensation is used. In the liquid crystal spatiallight modulator, polarization of each wavelength component can bechanged. Using the characteristics, polarization is controlled inresponse to a wavelength, and then time-spectrum properties of opticalpulses obtained from the spectrogram measurement analyzing units 908 and909 are identified. After that, control by the quarter-wave plate and bythe half-wave plate is performed.

Seventh Embodiment

A configuration of a wavelength-multiplexed transmission system, bywhich dispersion is compensated, or crosstalk is eliminated, to decreasea signal error rate at the time of wavelength-multiplexed transmissionwill be described with reference to FIGS. 17 and 21. In this embodiment,dispersion also means chromatic dispersion or polarization modedispersion. A wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse 1001 beforedispersion compensation or crosstalk elimination propagates through awavelength-multiplexed optical fiber transmission line 1002, whichconstitutes a target wavelength-multiplexed transmission system, fromleft to right. The wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse 1001 beforedispersion compensation or crosstalk elimination is separated intowavelength channels by a dispersion compensator or a crosstalkeliminator 1003. After spectrum measurement, dispersion is compensated,or crosstalk is eliminated, independently for each channel. A wavelengthmultiplexed optical pulse for monitoring 1005 is extracted from awavelength-multiplexed optical pulse monitoring port 1004, and is thendistributed into three paths through an optical fiber for monitoring1006, leading to spectrogram measurement analyzing units 1007 though1009. If it is not necessary to compensate polarization mode dispersion,measuring all polarization components by the spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 1007 suffices. If further reduction in polarizationdependency is required, a polarization eliminating element 1010 is used.When measuring polarization mode dispersion, the optical pulse isseparated into linear polarization orthogonal to each other by apolarized beam splitter 1011. Then, each component is measured by thespectrogram measurement analyzing units 1008 and 1009. The measuredspectrogram, or peak time-spectrum properties in the spectrogram, istransmitted to a polarization or crosstalk control unit 1012 as waveformdata. Then, the result is given to a dispersion compensator or acrosstalk eliminator 1003 as feedback. As a result of the stepsdescribed above, there is no dispersion or no crosstalk in awavelength-multiplexed optical pulse 1013 after dispersion compensationor crosstalk elimination.

For dispersion compensation, as the spectrogram measurement analyzingunits 1007 through 1009, the configuration described in the fourthembodiment, shown in FIG. 17, is used. In addition, in this embodiment,feedback information is given to each wavelength channel of thedispersion compensator or the crosstalk eliminator 1003 to compensatedispersion, instead of giving the phase shift quantity or a polarizationrotation angle, as feedback, to each wavelength component of the opticalpulse, for which wavelength resolution has been performed by thedispersion compensator 903 in the sixth embodiment shown in FIGS. 9A and9B. On the other points, the steps may be the same as those described inthe sixth embodiment.

On the other hand, in the case of crosstalk elimination, when measuringa spectrogram, it is necessary to extract only one specific channel,which is different from the other, as an optical pulse to be measuredand a gate optical pulse. Accordingly, in order to use the configurationin FIG. 17 for the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 1007, what isrequired is that in the clock optical pulse extracting port 702, it ispossible to select independently a wavelength channel which is extractedas an optical pulse to be measured and a clock optical pulse. For thispurpose, the clock optical pulse extracting port 702 is required to beequipped with a wavelength tunable optical band-pass filter which isindependent of the other, and which is used for an optical pulse to bemeasured and a clock optical pulse. Moreover, an optical pulse of theselected channel must be used as a gate optical pulse in the same stateexcept intensity. However, the intensity may be amplified by the gateoptical pulse generating unit 704. Thus, in a spectrogram measured bythe spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 709, the following waveformsappear: a waveform of a channel component extracted as the optical pulseto be measured; and a waveform corresponding to an optical pulse causedby crosstalk of a channel component extracted as the optical pulse to bemeasured and a channel component extracted as the gate optical pulse.Feedback is performed so as to minimize the waveform.

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,applying two-photon absorption, or four-wave mixing, in a semiconductorto an optical gate enables realization of a polarization-independentoptical pulse characterization instrument which measures, with highsensitivity, time and frequency properties of an optical pulse to bemeasured in an arbitrary polarized state.

The present invention can provide an optical transmission system, asignal error rate of which is low, and an instrument of optical pulsecharacterization which is useful for providing such an optical system.

While the invention has been described in its preferred embodiments, itis to be understood that the words which have been used are words ofdescription rather than limitation and that changes within the purviewof the appended claims may be made without departing from the true scopeand spirit of the invention in its broader aspects.

Reference Numerals shown are as follows:

101 Optical pulse to be measured

102 Polarization independent beam splitter

103 Probe optical pulse

104 Gate optical pulse

105 Polarization independent roof retroreflector

106 Light intensity modulator

107 Light intensity modulator

108 Condenser lens

109 Two-photon transition medium

110 Collimation lens

111 Beam block

112 Transmitting probe optical pulse

113 Third optical pulse by four-wave mixing

114 Optical pulse to be measured

115 Polarized separation element

116 Condenser lens

117 Incident slit

118 Incidence side spherical mirror

119 Polarization independent diffraction grating

120 Emittance side spherical mirror

121 Rotating mirror

122 Emittance slit

123 Photodetector

124 Lock-in amplifier

125 Display/analyzing unit

201 Gate optical pulse

202 Probe optical pulse

203 Gate optical pulse

204 Probe optical pulse

205 Third optical pulse by four-wave mixing

301 Optical amplification area

401 Probe optical pulse

402 Gate optical pulse

403 Layer containing an optical amplification medium

404 Probe optical pulse

405 Gate optical pulse

406 Exciting light source

407 Exciting light

408 Layer containing an optical amplification medium

409 Probe optical pulse

410 Gate optical pulse

411 Exciting light source

412 Exciting light

413 Current injection source

414 Lead wire for current injection

501 Gate optical pulse

502 Probe optical pulse

503 Polarization independent roof retroreflector

504 Light intensity modulator

505 Light intensity modulator

506 Condenser lens

507 Two-photon transition medium

508 Collimation lens

509 Beam block

510 Transmitting probe optical pulse

511 Third optical pulse by four-wave mixing

512 Optical pulse to be measured

513 Polarized separation element

514 Condenser lens

515 Incident slit

516 Incidence side spherical mirror

517 Polarization independent diffraction grating

518 Emittance side spherical mirror

519 Rotating mirror

520 Emittance slit

521 Photodetector

522 Lock-in amplifier

523 Display/analyzing unit

601 Optical fiber transmission line

602 Optical amplifier

603 Optical fiber connecting unit

604 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

701 Wavelength-multiplexed optical fiber transmission line

702 Clock optical pulse extracting port

703 Clock optical pulse extracting optical fiber

704 Gate optical pulse generating unit

705 Gate optical pulse inputting optical fiber

706 Optical fiber connecting unit for gate optical pulse

707 Optical amplifier

708 Optical fiber connecting unit for optical pulse to be measured

709 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

801 Optical pulse to be measured

802 Optical frequency shifter

803 Reference optical pulse

804 Optical frequency shifter

805 Probe optical pulse

806 Gate optical pulse

807 Light intensity modulator

808 Polarization independent roof retroreflector

809 Polarization independent beam coupler

810 Condenser lens

811 Two-photon transition medium

812 Collimation lens

813 Polarization independent beam coupler

814 Photodetector

815 Band-pass filter

816 Phase controller

817 Polarization independent roof retroreflector for phase control

818 Chromatic dispersion unit

819 Photodetector

820 Band-pass filter

821 Lock-in amplifier

822 Display/analyzing unit

901 Optical pulse before dispersion compensation

902 Optical fiber transmission line

903 Dispersion compensator

904 Optical pulse monitoring port

905 Optical pulse for monitoring

906 Optical fiber for monitoring

907 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

908 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

909 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

910 Polarization eliminating element

911 Polarized beam splitter

912 Dispersion control unit

913 Optical pulse after dispersion compensation

1001 Wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse before dispersion compensationor crosstalk elimination

1002 Wavelength-multiplexed optical fiber transmission

1003 Dispersion compensator or crosstalk eliminator

1004 Wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse monitoring port

1005 Wavelength multiplexed optical pulse for monitoring

1006 Optical fiber for monitoring

1007 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

1008 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

1009 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

1010 Polarization eliminating element

1011 Polarized beam splitter

1012 Dispersion control unit or crosstalk control unit

1013 Wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse after dispersion compensationor crosstalk elimination

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for measuring an optical pulse,comprising: directing a input probe pulse and gate pulse, each having anarbitrary polarization, through an optical medium, wherein the opticalmedium changes transmittance by two-photon adsorption and four-wavemixing; generating a third pulse by the four-wave mixing within theoptical medium, and an output probe pulse; reducing interference betweenthe output probe pulse and the third pulse; performing a polarizationindependent spectral transformation on one of the output probe pulse andthird pulse; varying the delay time of the gate pulse relative to theinput probe pulse to resolve the output probe pulse and the third pulsein time; and measuring time-gated intensity and phase of one of thespectrally transformed output probe pulse and third pulse using aspectrogram.
 2. The method according to 1, further comprising: adjustingat least one of the output probe pulse intensity and the third-pulseintensity by varying the power of the gate pulse for lock-in detectionto eliminate time-independent background of at at least one at theoutput probe pulse intensity and the third pulse intensity.
 3. Themethod according to 1, wherein the spectrogram is based on one offrequency and wavelength.
 4. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe gate pulse is derived from the input probe pulse.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 4, further comprising: modulating the input probepulse and gate pulse using different frequencies; directing the inputprobe pulse and gate pulse at the optical medium using the sameincidence angle; detecting the output probe pulse using a photodetector; and filtering the detected signal to extract information aboutthe input probe pulse.
 6. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising: directing the output probe pulse and the gate pulse at theoptical medium using different incidence angles; and spatiallyseparating the output probe pulse and the third pulse to reduceinterference.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the inputprobe pulse and the gate pulse are independent pulses.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: directing the input probepulse and the gate pulse at the optical medium using different incidenceangles; and spatially separating the output probe pulse and the thirdpulse to reduce interference.
 9. An apparatus for measuring an opticalpulse, comprising; an optical device which receives an arbitrarilypolarized input probe pulse and a gate pulse, wherein the optical devicetransmittance is modified by two-photon adsorption and four ways mixing,and further wherein the optical device produces a third pulse by thefour wave mixing and an output probe pulse; a reflector opticallycoupled to the optical device, which varies the delay mime of the gatepulse relative to the input probe pulse; a lens configuration opticallycoupled to the optical device, wherein the lens configurationfacilitates the spatial resolution of the output probe pulse and thethird pulse; a polarization-independent angle dispersion deviceoptically coupled to the lens configuration, which performs spectralanalysis on one of the output probe pulse and the third pulse; and ananalysis device optically coupled to the angle dispersion device whichmeasures time-gated intensity and phase for one of the spectrallytransformed output probe pulse and third pulse.
 10. The apparatusaccording to 9, further comprising: at least one intensity modulatorwhich adjusts the intensity at least one of the output probe pulseintensity and the third-pulse intensity by varying the power of the gatepulse for lock-in detection to eliminate time-independent background ofat least one of the output probe pulse intensity and the third-pulseintensity.
 11. The apparatus according to 9, wherein the spectrogram isa based on one of frequency and wavelength.
 12. The apparatus accordingto claim 9, further comprising a beam splitter for generating the gatepulse from the input probe pulse, wherein the beam splitter ispolarization independent.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 9,wherein the lens configuration facilitates the interaction of the inputprobe pulse and the gate pulse within the optical medium, and thespatial separation of the output probe pulse and the third pulse outsidethe optical medium.
 14. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein theangle dispersion device further comprises: a rotating reflection,optically coupled to the lens configuration having an angle of rotationwhich corresponds to one of frequency and wavelength, for resolving oneof the output probe pulse and the third pulse; and an emittance slitplaced between the rotating reflector and a photodetector, which allowsonly a portion of the intensity of one or the resolved output probepulse and third pulse pass through to the photodetector.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the optical device provides simultaneousoptical amplification through one of electric current injection andoptical beam input.
 16. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising: apolarized separation element optically coupled to the lens assembly formeasuring the characteristics changes of optical pulses withpolarization mode dispersion in optical fiber.
 17. The apparatus ofclaim 16, wherein the output probe pulse is split into components whichare polarization independent and have orthogonal polarizations.
 18. Anapparatus for measuring an optical pulse comprising: an optical devicewhich receives an arbitrarily polarized input probe pulse and a gatepulse, wherein the optical device transmittance is modified bytwo-photon adsorption and four wave mixing, and further wherein thooptical device produces a third pulse by the four wave mixing, and anoutput probe pulse; a reflector optically coupled to the optical device,which varies the delay time of the gate pulse relative to the inputprobe pulse; a first frequency shifter and a second frequency shifteroptically coupled to the reflector, wherein the first frequency shifteradjusts the frequency of input probe pulse and the second frequencyshifter adjusts the frequency of the gate pulse; a beam coupleroptically connected to the optical device, wherein the beam couplerfacilitates the frequency resolution of the output probe pulse and thethird pulse; a polarization-independent angle dispersion deviceoptically connected to the beam coupler, which performs spectralanalysis on one of the output probe pulse and the third pulse; and ananalysis device optically coupled to the angle dispersion device whichmeasures time-dependent intensity and phase for one of the spectrallytransformed output probe pulse and third pulse.
 19. The apparatusaccording to 18, wherein the beam coupler interferes the output probeand the third pulse to generate a signal having a beat frequencyresulting from the first and second frequency shifts, further whereinthe beat frequency is different that the frequencies of the input probepulse, the gate pulse, and the third pulse, and further comprising: aband-pass filter coupled to the angle dispersion device for extracting abeat component.
 20. The apparatus according to 18, further comprising:at least one intensity modulator which adjusts the intensity at leastone of the output probe pulse intensity and the third pulse intensity byvarying the power of the gate pulse.
 21. The apparatus according to 18,wherein the spectrogram is a based on one of frequency and wavelength.22. The apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising: a beamsplitter for generating the gate pulse from the input probe pulse,wherein the beam splitter is polarization independent.
 23. The apparatusaccording to claim 18, wherein the lens configuration facilitates theinteraction of the input probe pulse and the gate pulse within theoptical medium, and the spatial separation of the output probe pulse andthe third pulse outside the optical medium.
 24. The apparatus accordingto claim 18, wherein the angle dispersion device further comprises: arotating reflector, optically coupled to the lens configuration, havingan angle of rotation which corresponds to one of frequency andwavelength, for resolving one of the output probe pulse and the thirdpulse; and an emittance slit placed between the rotating reflector and aphotodetector, which allows only a portion of the intensity of one ofthe resolved output probe pulse and third pulse to pass through to thephotodetector.
 25. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the optical deviceprovides simultaneous optical amplification through one of electriccurrent injection and optical beam input.
 26. The apparatus of claim 18,further comprising: a polarized separation element optically coupled tothe lens assembly for measuring the characteristics changes of opticalpulses with polarization mode dispersion in optical fiber.
 27. Theapparatus of claim 26, wherein the output probe pulse is split intocomponents which are polarization independent and have orthogonalpolarizations.